


Topplng Misconceptions

by darkling59



Series: Annals of the Incomplete [28]
Category: Planet of the Apes (2001)
Genre: Anonymous Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 00:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3549683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/darkling59
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ape gets a nasty wake up call about the abilities of the human slaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Topplng Misconceptions

Chera watched with vague interest as the humans were branded. Each one was isolated from the pack, drawn out of the cage using catchpoles and brute force, then held firm while the branding occurred. Usually there were screams and hoots of fear and pain accompanying the process. She felt bad for the humans but it wasn’t as if the branding did any lasting damage; there were far greater societal problems to worry about, some of them relevant to the case. That is why she is here, after all, to make sure the animals are treated humanely through the process.

Her ears perked up slightly at a break in routine as one of the male humans walked out of the cage on its own without struggling against the catch poles. His stiff legged gate was obviously unnatural and his gaze darted around the room wildly but there was no sign of hostility towards his keepers.

The unnatural stillness maintained as an orangutan fixed him in place and forced one arm out in anticipation of the brand. It lasted up until the brand was only a few inches from his flesh.

Then he snapped.

She had never seen a human move so fast or violently: one minute he was standing in place. The next moment, the orangutan was kneeling on the ground clutching his groin and the human was halfway across the room. It took her a moment longer to realize his destination.

In fact, she only really understood where he was going when he grabbed her and jammed a knife into the side of her neck.

Her startled shriek was cut off by a sudden increase of pressure on the sharp edge and a low rumbling growl that she could vibrate against her back from his chest.

The soldiers and keepers were shouting and hooting in the background but she barely noticed, so focused was she on the threat to her life. How could this happen? She was good to humans! She liked them! Why would she be a statistic in the one in a hundred thousand apes killed by humans?

She stood perfectly still so as not to provoke him, more due to her training than any intelligent action.

“Back up.”

He can TALK?!

The knife pushed harder when she didn’t move. “I said back up!”

She edged backwards, a movement he echoed. There was nothing behind them…where was he going? Would he try to back all the way to the door? He had to know there was no way he’d be able to escape through the streets of the city. Then again, he was human.

But he continued to back straight up until water from the canal was splashing up over their feet. By now the soldiers were organized and formed up but there was nothing they could do without hurting her. And to make things that much more complicated, the male human’s attack seemed to have spurred a rebellion among the humans in the cages who were now slamming themselves around the enclosures and grabbing apes through the bars.

She froze when the human tried to prompt her into wading backwards into the water.

“Come on.” His voice was a low, raspy growl. It sounded intelligent but nothing like that of an ape.

“I c-can’t.”

“Come on.” The pressure increased.

“No!” she lunged forward away from the water (every ape’s worst nightmare; swimming was impossible with their semi-bipedal bowed legs), expecting her throat to be cut.

To her surprise, he let her go. In fact, he lunged backwards at the exact instant she went forwards, plunging himself under the surface before any of the soldiers could get a fix on him.

After pulling herself clear, she turned back to stare in disbelief at the spot where he had been standing mere seconds earlier. Now, without her life on the line, she could see the immense scientific loss that had occurred. A talking human! How could…

“It’s alive!”

One of the soldiers shouted and she whipped around. Could he have survived? Been washed ashore?

She was half right: he was alive but he was not on the shore. His head had broken the surface a good ten meters out and now he was swimming strongly away from the bank.

All of the apes were too stunned to react.

Humans can swim? Since when?


End file.
